Maharashtra cabinet partially accepts Adarsh report

The Maharashtra cabinet on Thursday partially accepted the report of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Adarsh scam, reports said.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Pritviraj Chavan said legal action will be initiated against 25 ineligible members of the housing society.

He said that no separate FIRs will be filed by Maharashtra government against those figuring in CBI FIR or chargesheet.

He said that in case of political patronage mentioned in Adarsh panel report, no criminality was revealed.

"In case of political patronage, the commission did not draw the conclusion that they indulged in a criminal act," chief minister Prithviraj Chavan told reporters after the cabinet meeting.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which is the coalition partner of the Congress in Maharashtra, on Monday said it is open to reviewing the decision of the state government that rejected a probe report on Adarsh housing scam.

"We are open to reviewing the report in the next Cabinet meeting," said NCP spokesperson Nawab Mallik.

"Action can be taken against those indicted in the report," he said.

"As for the two NCP ministers, who were named in the report, the commission itself has said that they did not have the eventual power to take the decision on the Adarsh scam," Mallik said.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi last Friday displayed a strong stance on corruption saying that he does not agree with the decision of the Maharashtra cabinet to trash the Adarsh defence housing scam probe report by a commission that indicted at least four previous Congress chief ministers.

"I don't agree with the decision of the Maharashtra cabinet...it must reconsider its decision," the Gandhi scion said at a press conference in New Delhi.

Reacting to Rahul's comment, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said he will consult his colleagues on the matter as the Maharashtra Cabinet has rejected the Adarsh Commission report on the defence housing scam.